Airen Cracken
Airen Cracken was a resistance fighter from Contruum who became a General in the Rebel Alliance and eventual Supreme Commander of its Intelligence Division. Biography Contruum's Hero Born and raised on his parents' farm on Contruum, Cracken developed an early proficiency with machinery and modifications. He put these skills to use performing repairs on nearby farmers' equipment, and eventually Cracken opened a mechanic's shop. He married a Corellian woman called Josta, and had two children: Pash and Dena. When the Galactic Empire took control of Contruum, Cracken organized his mechanics into a group of guerrilla resistance fighters waging war on the infrastructure of the Imperial occupation. Supply depots, mining operations, star docks, and landing bays were all targets of Cracken's Crew. According to the account in his official Alliance biography, their sabotage distracted and frustrated the Imperial commander while a planetary militia was raised, and they subsequently fought alongside the militia in a years-long war which caused so much damage to the Imperial garrison that it forced the sector's Moff to cede control of the planet to its people. Alliance Intelligence The Alliance source goes on to claim that Cracken grew preoccupied with the thought that other worlds were still laboring under Imperial domination, and left Contruum with the aim of joining the Rebellion. However, it seems that Cracken and his crew initially operated independently of the Alliance, traveling from planet to planet aboard a freighter, targeting Imperial facilities. Eventually, the crew caught the attention of the Rebels, and Cracken found himself as an officer of Alliance Intelligence. He was a general before the Battle of Yavin, and soon succeeded General Vernan as Supreme Allied Commander for Intelligence, overall leader of the Alliance Intelligence one of the Allied military's six galaxywide commands. Much of Cracken's work involved overseeing the galaxywide network of agents through which Intell worked to undermine the New Order—spies, scouts, infiltrators, and sympathetic Imperial officers. Cracken was directly involved at every stage, from recruitment onwards, profiling a number of his most valuable assets were documented in Cracken's Rebel Operatives, among them Rivoche Tarkin, Tru'eb Cholakk, and Jan Ors (under her alias Jan Strange). His imagination also spawned several innovative operations, such as the infiltration of BlasTech's weapons research department by Inat Rangoon. He even used his teenage son, Pash, as an agent, sending him to join the Imperial Academy, where he suborned his classmates, and subsequently led his entire TIE fighter wing to mutiny. While it was Pash who would become best-known as a fighter pilot, the elder Cracken was also formidable behind the controls of a combat plane: it was Airen Cracken who taught Pash how to fly a fighter, and he personally commanded Tala Squadron, a unit of Z-95 Headhunters which flew close-support in-atmosphere operations for SpecForce commandos. Nor was his front-line service limited to the cockpit. His bravery in the field twice earned him the Nebula Award, one of which was awarded for bravely surviving capture and Bavo Six-aided interrogation at the hands of the Imperial Security Bureau on Quanton. His knowledge of useful field modifications and equipment were codified in Cracken's Rebel Field Guide, and his writings proved essential in the training of the Alliance Special Forces: for example, he devised a technique, which became well known to Alliance operatives, of creating an effective grenade out of two blaster power packs. Airen Cracken helped Colonel Beryl Chiffonage tutor anxious tactics genius Risiev Credal. During their free time, Cracken and Chiffonage entertained Credal with tales of the tactics they used in old times. Credal enjoyed and learned a lot during this time. Credal's mysterious disappearance and rumors of desertion led to Cracken reconsidering Credal's loyalty and his own good judgment by telling him so much. In 2 ABY, Airen Cracken worked with the Task Force on Alliance Security, writing important reports on threats to the Rebel Alliance, and coordinating reports from other Rebel agents. He wrote, for instance, a report on slaver Talas Piran, leader of the Mytaranor Slaving Council, explaining why he was a despicable person; and another report on professor-turned-pirate Callow Batta, where he said that he would like to recruit him for the Alliance before he could begin scrambling Rebel operations and trade. Cracken also provided insight for other reports, talking about the quality of Hydrospeare Corporation, the treason of Mosara Thiirn, or his own relationship with Risiev Credal. During the Battle of Endor of 7 ABY, General Cracken assigned himself aboard the Millennium Falcon with Lieutenant Blount. He served as the ship's gunner and communications, actually manning the top turret during the battle. = Foot Note = This NPC is used within a RESOLUTION Plot and is so part of the RSN Universe of Star Wars lore. Category:NPCs Category:Rebel NPCs